Essential or Extraneous?

This week, the Globe and Mail has been running a 5-part series on Technology in the Classroom. They have looked at everything from the evolution of technology in the classroom to the concept of the 'flipped' classroom.




But what caught my eye today was a survey which asked the question: "Is technology a boon or a burden in the classroom?".


Check out the results here.


What do you think?


When I think about the early years of my teaching career, I had considerably less technology available to me: a chalkboard, a piece of chalk, an overhead projector, transparencies, a photocopier and my 24lb Dell Inspiron laptop. And I used every piece of technology I could find. And then I started looking. And searching--searching through Webcrawler and Yahoo to find cool things to do in my classroom.


Google wasn't even a verb back then.


And then the Internet exploded. And technology became available at a faster pace and at lower costs.


But has it changed your teaching? Do you feel empowered to use the latest and greatest tool to provide authentic and relevant learning experiences for you students?


Or is it a burden...something that slows down your teaching and hinders the learning process?

I'd like to know what you think